Today, September 28, is the memorial of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz and Companion-Martyrs.
Lorenzo’s parents were both Christians: he had a Chinese father and a Filipino mother who taught him Chinese and Tagalog at home, and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He was respected as a professional calligrapher, document transcriptionist, and a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary. He was also a married layman, and the father of two sons and a daughter.
For vague reasons, Lorenzo was accused of murder. He sought asylum on board ship with three Dominican priests, St. Antonio Gonzalez, St. Guillermo Courtet, and St. Miguel de Aozaraza, a Japanese priest, St. Vicente Shiwozuka de la Cruz, and a layman named St. Lazaro of Kyoto, a leper. It was when the ship was sailing did Lorenzo find out they were heading to Japan during a time of intense Christian persecution.
There in Japan, in time, they were exposed as Christians. They were arrested and brought to Nagasaki, Japan to be tried and tortured.
Because of blood loss and suffocation, Lorenzo died in 1637 at age 42, being crushed over a period of three days while hanging upside down.
Pope St. John Paul II beatified him and his companions in Manila in 1981, the first beatification held outside Rome. The same pope canonized them in 1987.